The sale of the two Tata Steel plate processing plants to new UK steel producer Liberty Steel has been finalised on 24 March, both companies confirm to Kallanish.

The deal, brokered through the Scottish government, will see the two Tata plate processing plants in Clydebridge and Dalzell in Scotland. The Dalzell plate mill transforms a semi-finished steel slab into a steel plate, while the Clydebridge facility processes steel plate using a quench and tempering technique.

“A ‘back to back’ agreement was confirmed this morning (24 March) which involves the Scottish Government buying the plants from Tata steel and then immediately selling them on to Liberty for the same terms, incurring no cost to the taxpayer,” Liberty says in a release. No value for the transaction was disclosed.

The plants had been mothballed at the end of 2015 as part of Tata’s restructuring of its UK plate manufacturing facilities. The Scottish government has kept fighting to ensure that the plants remain in operation.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of Liberty House Group said: “This agreement saves two great facilities in Scotland. Now we must turn our attention to restoring these businesses to their former glory, steadily rebuilding their skilled workforces and customer base. Clydebridge and Dalzell will fit well into our vision for an integrated, flexible and sustainable steel sector, from recycled local scrap using renewable energy making green steel, to value added downstream and engineered products.  Liberty is in a strong position to invest in the future of this industry and that is what we will be doing here in Scotland and across the UK. We’re grateful for the support of the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise in enabling us to reach this very positive historic agreement."

See an exclusive Kallanish video interview with Sanjeev Gupta on our website for more on this story.